The Jade Menagerie

ABOUT JADE
The English word "jade" is derived from the Spanish phrase piedra de ijada or "loin stone", from the material's reputed power to cure kidney ailments. The Chinese word for jade, "Yu", appears in the oldest texts. The Chinese believed jade to be the "essence of the purity of the spiritual principle", and taught that ownership of fine jade prolongs life. Taoists saw jade as the food of spirits, believing it to "help confer both physical and spiritual immortality". The Kuan Tzu, a more than 2000 year old Chinese book, declares that jade has "nine virtues", which are: benevolence, wisdom, righteousness, excellent conduct, purity, courage, refined quality, tolerance, and gentleness. The six principle colors of Chinese jade represented six cosmic powers - heaven, earth, and the four points of the compass.
Jade is indeed a unique gemstone. It is tough (of hardness between 6-7.5 on the Mohs scale), yet has a smooth feeling, a soft, glossy appearance, and comes in a variety of colors and color combinations. It has an unusual semi-transparent look and a distinctly tactile texture. And it has, for thousands of years, been carved into wondrously artistic things and endowed with mystical and magical properties. Jade is the ideal material for an amulet, a perfect "worry-reliever".
To the Chinese, "jade" has always meant a wide range of unusually beautiful, generally hard and semi-transparent precious minerals suitable for carving. A Chinese naturalist recognized 14 different varieties of jade. Chinese jade is in reality a range of minerals - principally nephrite - which occurs in several colors including light to dark green, yellow, brown, white, gray and black.
The primary Chinese source for nephrite and related "jades" was in the Kunlun mountains, and the main collecting areas were in Khotan, on the "Silk Route". It was not until the 18th century that a "new" type of jade reached China from mines in Burma. This was commonly a bright "apple green" slightly harder stone now referred to as jadeite, soon to be termed "imperial jade". Our collection is of nerphrite or "archaic" Chinese jade.